Frank says Nets 'D' is offensive

SAN FRANCISCO -- Even on the day after the latest defensive debacle, the coach hadn't softened. That in itself was unusual for Lawrence Frank, who is usually upbeat even in the most hideous circumstances.

But the Nets coach kept running the numbers in his head as he spoke yesterday, and spat them out at his team during the film session. Fifteen 3-pointers. Nearly 20 blow-bys. Nearly 30 in-the-paint attacks. More than a dozen lazy or inept rotations. And, of course, 128 points.

No, it would take more than a night's sleep to get over what the Sacramento Kings did to his team Tuesday night.

"Everyone to a man is extremely embarrassed by the way we're playing," Frank said after the team worked out at a downtown health club to prepare for tonight's game at Golden State. "We're embarrassed. There's no other way to say it."

The record (18-23) and losing streak (six) say enough. But the devil is in the details. The breakdowns might be across the board, but it starts with guarding the dribble, and the Nets aren't doing it. Over the past two games, four point guards and an army of fleet wings have attacked the rim with reckless abandon.

Even the boss admitted the effort was alarming: "Sacramento ran a clinic on us," team president Rod Thorn said. "They got anything they wanted, whether it was a drive to the rim, or drive-and-kick -- whatever they wanted to do, they did. We just didn't put up much effort."

"It's a lack of effort. That's all it is," forward Richard Jefferson agreed. "It had nothing to do with the game plan. It's a lack of effort. Including myself. No reason, no excuse."

Frank gave them a refresher on what's ailing them technically -- mostly about on-ball defense, poor communication, and an absence of trust. But he also tried to appeal to their professionalism.

"There's a reason why all these guys have gotten to this level," he said. "One thing that matters is your pride, and the way we're representing ourselves -- and how we're representing ourselves as a team -- is not acceptable."

Nenad Krstic was allowed to test his left knee in a full-contact practice yesterday -- his first since being shut down back in November -- and from his coach's perspective, it was a significant step.

"It was good to see him back on the court," Frank said. "He made some shots. You can't ask for anything better than that. It's another little step. We'll see how he feels tomorrow."

Afterward, Krstic played one-on-one with Malik Allen, then Boki Nachbar. Now that he's taken this step, is it time to lay out a timetable? Not quite.

"The timetable is going to be totally determined when he's 100 percent ready," said Frank, who doesn't have another practice until Wednesday. "We can't afford for this not to work. That's why there's no timetable. This was a good step. Before we weren't considering anything until practice. Now that he's done it, we'll give him more work."

Jason Kidd, on Frank: "Everybody still supports Coach. Any time you start losing, people look at the coach. I think Coach still gets his point across. It's just a matter of us executing."

A reported discussion between the Nets and Chicago involving Andres Nocioni was dismissed as inoperative by both sides yesterday. Two reasons: Nocioni is a base-year compensation player, which means only half his $8.5 million salary could be brought back in trade, which means the Nets can only send about $4.25 million back to the Bulls; and the Bulls had zero interest ("It sounds like fan trade," one official cracked) in what the Nets were offering.

More to the point, the Nets seem "paralyzed" right now, which is how one general manager described their personnel situation yesterday.

"I have no doubt Rod would love to make a move at this point," said the GM, who requested anonymity so as not to meddle in Thorn's affairs, "but I think he's seeing that their players don't really have big (trade) value. People like their young bigs (Sean Williams and Josh Boone), but very few teams would take the others, including the Big 3, because of their contracts."

For the third straight day, Thorn reiterated yesterday that "we aren't close at all to doing anything," and that he and Kiki Vandeweghe have spoken to every team in the league in the past two weeks.